Always
by peterpanlover
Summary: A day before the curse in the enchanted forest arrived, my shadow brought to Neverland a girl who has very powerful magic, Zoe. Everything has changed in the last 28 years since she came here, and now she has to go to a place called Story Brooke to help me find the Truest Believer so that I can live.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own once upon a time.**

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

After a quick visit to the new prisoners, I am walking through the jungle now. Yesterday's night the shadow brought two girls here to Neverland, and his only excuse is that he got confused. I hadn't felt like arguing, so I just shrugged it off and ordered Felix to put them in cages. When I went to see them this morning, they were bluffing about some friend of theirs, who had also got here to Neverland, but the shadow accidentally dropped her in the sea and when her face didn't emerge for some minutes, they'd assumed she'd drowned. It's not like I care anyway, but I am starting to get pissed by the shadow's foolishness.

I had to admit I wasn't expecting what happened next: all of a sudden, I am thrown backwards and my back hits a tree that is right behind me. I glance at the knife that is now piercing my shirt, in a section over my shoulder. The knife has me stuck to the tree, and is what threw me backwards in the first place.

My look then moves towards where the knife came from in expectation, and I don't know what I thought I would see, but I never imagined that a girl was the one who threw the knife. She is standing in front of me, a few meters away. She has long curvy brown hair, looks around my size, is wearing a black leather jacket, jeans and boots, and from here I can see her deep blue eyes.

When she sees the knife has landed where she aimed it to, she walks towards me, stopping when she could reach and touch me if she wanted to.

She must be confused about why I am not trying to take the knife off my shirt and try to attack her or run away, but she doesn't show it. She is just staring at me with her head slightly tilted to the side and her eyebrow raised.

"Who are _you_?" she asks, getting me out of my thoughts.

"I'm Sebastian." I lie. I don't know how it happened, but it seems like I internally decided not to tell her who I really am just yet, because if I did I would be forced to put her in a cage because she would run. No, she wouldn't run. Just by looking at how confidently she walked I know that she is the type of girl who would fight. But if I pretend to be someone I'm not, then I can find out about her like, for instance, why isn't she dead. I've already put it together; she must be the girl who 'drowned' because my shadow dropped her.

"I didn't ask for your _name." _she says, sounding bored. "That doesn't tell me anything. What I was asking was who are you?"

"I was a lost boy." I say, and realize that the lie is very beleiveable because I am wearing the same grey cloack the lost boys's wear.

"You _were _a lost boy? What is that supposed to mean?" she says.

"Pan's shadow brought me here," I say. "But I escaped."

"_Pan_? As in Peter Pan?" she asks, this time her tone is so serious, so different than the first one that I can only manage to nod.

"Damn," she whispers to herself, but loud enough for me to hear.

"Why do you sound so worried?" I say. "You act like you know him, have you been here before?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I don't, you idiot. But I have heard stories about Neverland, and I know it is very difficult to get out once you set foot in the island."

"It's not difficult," I correct. "It's impossible. I have tried to escape from this island for as long as I can remember, but one can only leave if Pan allows it."

"Then I'll make him allow it." She simply says like if I were ignoring the obvious. "There must have been some mistake. For all I know, there are only boys in Neverland."

"It doesn't matter if you are a girl, I know Pan, and he doesn't like letting people who arrive here leave."

"Do I look like someone who cares about what Pan likes?"

"Well you should. Because he happens to have magic and is immortal." She smirks at that but says nothing. "Now can you please take this knife from my shirt?" I say, having just remembered the knife.

She sights and takes the knife off of me, placing it back in her belt. "Now," she says. "You have been in this island for a long time, right?" I nod. "Good. Then you can tell me where does the shadow take Pan's prisoners."

"Why do you want to know that?" I ask, remembering that though I know the answer, Sebastian doesn't.

"I came here with two friends. When we were on the way to the island I-," she hesitates and I raise an eyebrow, but after a second she corrects herself: "-The shadow dropped me and I waited a while under the water to make the shadow believe I was dead. Then I just swam towards the island's beach. Now I need to find my friends."

"I can help." I say. "I might know where they are."

"Wonderful." She says dryly. "Now lets start moving." She starts walking away from me until my voice makes her stop and turn around:

"Wait," I say. "What's your name?"

She smirks. "I'm Zoe, Zoe Brook."

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

_When Snow White and James invited me to their wedding, I had to admit I was surprised. We met each other when I saved their lives and helped them to be reunited, but I didn't consider them as friends. But even if they did like me, I didn't think they would go through the trouble of having half of the guests being afraid of me. _

_Though I only used my magic to kill when it was necessary, some of the people still saw me as someone dangerous. Guess there are persons who will never like someone who has the power to kill them if she wanted to by only blinking. _

_This was an important wedding: the prince and the princess where getting married. I used my magic to change into an elegant and pretty dress – I love dressing for occasions._

_The wedding was going as planned. The couple where standing next to each other, holding hands. _

"_I do." Said the prince, looking strait into Snow white's eyes. _

"_And you, Snow white, promise to take this man as your husband, and to love him for all eternity?" asked the priest. _

"_I do." Said Snow, smiling. _

"_I now pronounce you husband and wife." Said the priest, followed by cheers of joy and applauses. Even I applauded. _

_But when the royal couple was about to touch each other's lips, the doors of the hall opened. The applause suddenly ceased and I turned my head around to see the Evil Queen stepping in the room through the opened doors. _

"_Sorry I'm late." She said confidently, her eyes not leaving the couple. I turned to see Snow's horrified face, then back at the Queen. _

_The Queen started walking towards Snow White and prince charming through the wide space the guests had given her, and doesn't stop walking even when two guards place themselves in front of her, blocking her path. The Queen simply used her magic to flung the guards into the air, one to the left and one to the right. Screams of surprise escaped a lot of people's lips in the crowd, but I simply smirked._

"_It's the Queen, run." A dwarf said to Snow White, warning her like if she couldn't see the woman in front of her. The princess unsheathed the sword in James's belt, pointing it at the Queen. _

"_She's not queen anymore," said Snow White. "She is nothing more than an evil witch." _

_The Queen had stopped walking and found me in the crowd and our eyes meat. I tilted my head, using my confused but smug eyes to ask her what is she doing here. She simply smirked and then looked back at Snow White again, who was still pointing a sword at her. _

"_No, no, no. Don't stick to her level, there's no need." Said James to Snow White, gently touching the sword in Snow's hand. Snow aloud James to grab the sword and hold it facing the floor, her eyes never leaving the Queen's. _

"_There's no need, you've already lost." Charming continued, stepping in front of Snow White in an attempt to protect her. "And I will not let you ruin this wedding."_

"_Oh I haven't come here to ruin anything." Said Regina, the Evil Queen. "On the contrary dear. I've come to give you a gift."_

"_We want nothing from you." Snow said immediately. _

"_But you shall have it." Regina said, and then started walking slowly from side to side. "My gift to you is this happy, happy day." She started looking at the guests and I notice her eyes falling on me for a breath second, before she looked at everyone in general again. "But tomorrow my real work begins. Made your vows, now I make mine." She looked directly at Snow White again. "Soon, everything you love, everything all of you love, will be taken from you. Forever." _

_The people started exchanging worried looks, but my eyes didn't leave Regina's. "And out of your suffering, will rise my victory. I shall destroy your happiness, if it is the last thing I do." Regina placed her eyes on me one last time before turning around and walking back towards the big doors of the hall._

"_Hey!" The prince shouted, making the Queen turn around to face him just when he threw his sword towards her. A black haze surrounded Regina and when it cleared, the sword and she were gone. _

_My gaze went to the royal couple to see them hugging each other, clearly concerned. I didn't bother hiding my amusement because I knew that no one was looking at me. They were all too concerned about what the Queen would do, but I was not. There is nothing she could do to hurt me anyway; I am more powerful than she is. _

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

I walked with Zoe through all the afternoon. I am taking her towards her friends, though I am taking the longest paths I know of because I still haven't figured out what to do when we get there. Her friends will know who I am and my whole act will be gone, and I don't want it to be gone. I am still curious about Zoe, and she won't tell me anything about her if she knows who I really am. But I can see that even if she thinks I am Sebastian, she doesn't trust me. I have tried asking her some things, and all she told me was things that I already knew, what Peter Pan already knows. She said she is from a place called the Enchanted Forest, she doesn't know why the shadow brought her to Neverland, and when I asked her if she was important or famous in the enchanted forest, she simply said that people knew about her but that they didn't like her much.

"We should sleep." I suggest. "It's getting late and walking through the dark jungle over night will be very dangerous." To my surprise, she nods. "I'll put up the fire." I say.

Zoe raises her eyebrow. "Why, do you want the whole island to see us?" she asks. I sight and seat across from her with my back against a tree trunk. But what Zoe said just gave me an idea – I do want the whole island to see where we are. If I get the lost boys into trying to kill us, I will know all about her. I will know her abilities when she fights, or if she is a good runner. And how to earn her trust in a better way than to be in a risky situation with her?

I wait a few hours until she falls asleep, and when she does I transport myself back to camp. The lost boys are dancing like idiots around the bonfire like they always do, and Felix is seating on a stump. When he sees me, I make a slight movement with my head to indicate him to follow me. He stands up and walks towards me.

"Pan," he says. "Where were you all day?"

"There's a girl in the island." I state. "A girl who the shadow believed had drowned."

"Do you want me to take her to a cage?"

"If you catch her, then yes." I say. "Come later tonight with a group of lost boys. We are sleeping in the southern part of the island, close to the echo caves." Felix nods and then I transport myself back across from Zoe, who still looks deep in sleep. 'This is about to get interesting.' I say to myself.

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

_I transported myself inside of James and Snow White's castle, appearing in front of Rumplestinskin's cell. He stood up when he saw me, his face excited._

_"Well if it isn't the great Zoe Brook." He said. "It has been a while sense I last saw you."_

_"It was indeed." I said, putting my hood down to reveal my brown hair, and walk closer to the cell. "You know why I'm here, so maybe I shouldn't say."_

_"Yes, yes, yes. I know, I know. You are here to ask about the queen's threat."_

_"I am."_

_"Good, good." He chuckled, clapping his hands. "You are not the first person to come here asking for answers." I raised an eyebrow._

_"Who came here?" I asked._

_"Snow White and Prince charming, of course. Oh, they were so worried." He said._

_"Of course they were, they always are." I said. "I'm just curious."_

_"You always are." He said and my lip twisted. "Tell me what you know." I walked closer to the cell. Now I couldn't have given more steps or I would have crushed against it._

_"The queen has created a powerful curse." He said. Rumplestinskin makes deals with everyone - he would have made a deal for this information - but he has never made a deal with me._

_"And it's coming. Soon you'll all be in a prison. Just like me, only worst. Your prison, all of our prisons, will be time. Time will stop, and we will be trapped. Some place horrible, where everything we hoped, dear, everything we love will be ripped from us while we suffer from all eternity. While the queen celebrates, victorious at last!" He stopped talking for a second before saying: "No more happy endings."_

_My face didn't change. Hiding my emotions is an ability I have always had, an ability I'm proud of._

_"Can it be stopped?" I asked calmly. "We can't do anything." He answered._

_"Then who can?" I said._

_"Snow White's unborn child." He said. "He is our only hope. If Snow White and the prince get the child to safety then on its twenty-eighth birthday the child will return."_

_I sighted. "Don't worry dear, you will be fine." He said, probably just to console me. But I didn't want him to._

_"I know I will." I said smugly, and turned to walk away. Then a light-blue haze surrounded me and I was back at my village, my home. My head was spinning with thoughts I tried putting away, but with no use. I trust Rumplestinskin with my life, the same way he trusts me. So if he said this curse was going to happen, then it meant it would happen._

_I walked through the village and found Claire and Emily walking on the opposite direction. I grabbed Emily by her wrist, making her and Clarie stop walking. Emily looked startled for a moment because I was wearing my cloak so that I wouldn't be recognized, but once she looked at my face her body relaxed._

_"Zoe." said Emily. "What are you doing here?"_

_"I know it's wierd for me to come to you like this since we haven't spoken to each othe rfor years, but I still care about you, and I have something very important to tell both of you." I said. Emily and Claire both have fark hair, but Emily's hair reaches her shoulders and she has green eyes, and Claires eyes are black. _

___"What happened?" asked Emily._

___I sighted. And then I told them everything Rumplestinskin told me about Regina and her curse. When I finished, my friends looked shocked._

_"What are we going to do?" said Emily, almost to herself._

_Just when she finished talking, a white pigeon landed on my shoulder. I looked up and realized that the pigeon had a message tied to its foot. I untied it gently and unrolled the script, reading it in my mind._

_"What does it say?" said Claire._

_"Seems like the new Queen and Prince have invited me to a meeting." I said. "Right now."_

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

"Sebastian," I hear a voice say. "Wake up." It takes me a moment to remember that Zoe is talking to me, and that I am meant to be Sebastian. I look at the still dark sky, and then back at Zoe.

"Why? Its still night." I say.

"Shut up." She says. "Or they will hear us."

I stand up quietly so that I am standing next to her.

"Who will hear us?" I whisper.

"Look." She points in front of us, and I can see a group of lost boys walking around in a strait line at the distance, but they are slowly getting closer to us. Some of them are holding torches, and the rest of them hold spears or bows. They can't see us of course, because a tree trunk is covering us.

"Those are the lost boys." I whisper to Zoe. "They must be looking for you."

"Great," she says wryly. Then she makes an attempt to step from behind the tree, but I grab her wrist with a strong grip, which makes her turn around. "What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" I say.

"No," she says simply. "I'm just going to fight them."

"Are you nuts? You are not even armed." I say.

"Hell I am," She replies, and then her hand goes to the knife in her belt. "I have this."

"You are expecting to fight a very big group of lost boys and actually survive with only a knife? You are insane."

"Maybe," she admits. "But I've been through worse. I have fought a bigger group of people, and they were trained knights, not teenagers, and they had real weapons, not pointed sticks."

I can't help but feeling offended by her comment. "It's not the sticks you have to worry about," I say. "It's the poison that they inject you with."

"Poison?" she asks.

"It's called Dream Shade – a slight touch and you will be dead in an hour."

She pauses for a second, and I think I have won the argument till she says. "I'll manage."

I am starting to desperate now. I move my head so that I can see the lost boys: they are almost close enough to see us. If Zoe fights them I will have to intervene, and the whole acting will be gone.

"Zoe think about this," I say. "There's no cure to this poison, and if you die then no one will free your friends."

She looks like she is going to answer me, but then a voice makes both of our heads turn around:

"There she is!" a lost boys says, and then they are running towards us. I start running away but when I see that Zoe isn't following me, I stop.

"Zoe!" I say. She hesitates – looks at me, then at the lost boys and then back at me. She finally sights and runs towards me, and I start running with her when she reaches me.

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

_"I say we fight!" said James, hitting the table with his fist. We were at the mitting Snow had invited me to, seating round a circled-table. The couple had already explained everyone in the room about what they knew about the curse, and options were being proposed. _

_"Fighting is a bad idea. Giving in to one's dark side never accomplishes anything." Said the cricket, which was standing on the table instead of seating on a chair like the rest of us. _

_"And how many wars have a clear conscious won?" I said._

_"We need to take the queen out before she can inflict her curse." James continued._

_"Can we even trust Rumplestinskin?" one of the dwarfs asked. _

_"Of course we can." I said, and James nodded._

_"I've sent my man into the forest," he said "the animals are abuzz with the queen's plan. This is going to happen unless we do something."_

_"There's no point." Said Snow White. "The future is written."_

_"No. I refuse to believe that. Good can't just loose." Said James. _

_"Maybe it can." Said Snow, without looking at his husband. _

_"No, no. Not as long as we have each other." James crouched beside Snow and she turned to look at him. "If you believe him about the curse then you must believe him about our child. She will be the savior." _

_Snow looked like she was about to reply, but before she could the doors of the room suddenly opened and I turned my head to see a group of knights carrying a wide tree trunk._

_"What the hell is this?" said James, standing up again. _

_Then my eyes followed the blue fairy, who was flying towards the table and had just stopped. _

_"Our only hope of saving that child." Said the blue fairy, answering James's question. _

_"A tree? Our faith rests on a tree? Let's get back to the fighting thing." Said Leroy and I rolled my eyes. _

_"The tree is enchanted," said the blue fairy. "If fashioned into a vessel it can wardrobe any curse. Gepetto, can you build such a thing?" the blue fairy continued. _

_"We and my boy, we can do it." Gepetto replied, gently touching his son's head, who I couldn't see from here because of his low stature. _

_The blue fairy's gaze went back to Snow White and James. "This will work. We all must have faith." Snow White grabbed James hand and smiled at him. "There is, however, a catch." The blue fairy continued. "The enchantment is indeed powerful but all power has its limits. And this tree can protect only one."_

_When the meeting finished, I transported myself back to the forest, where I agreed to meat with Claire and Emily to tell them what had happened during the meeting. After filling them with the news I was about to walk away and leave when the wind started to blow, and the__ shadow flew towards me and took my friends and I to Neverland._

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

Now we are running next to each other with the lost boys on our heals, dodging the arrows and the spears they are constantly throwing us. Something I just learnt about Zoe is that she is _fast. _I can see that she has ran at full sprint many times before coming to Neverland, and I struggle to keep up with her.

After a few minutes of running, we see a cliff in front of us. The other side of the land is around five meters away, but Zoe doesn't look like she is going to stop running – she is going to _jump. _I don't even know if I can jump five meters, but if I don't make it I can always fly, so I don't mind.

When we reach the cliff, we jump at the same time, but our feet don't reach the other side. I manage to grab a root from a tree, which leaves my body dangling in the air. I glance at Zoe, who is in the same position as I am. We start bringing our bodies upwards and when my feet touch the ground and I am prepared to start running again, an arrow pierces my arm.

I don't really feel any pain when it comes to an arrow, but I remember that I am acting like Sebastian, a guy who doesn't have any magic, so I force a low hiss of pain. Zoe, who is now standing next to me, throws her knife at the lost boy who threw the arrow, which lands on the lost boy's leg. He screams and then Zoe grabs my wrist, forcing me to run away from the lost boys with her. The lost boys stopped running when they reached the edge of the cliff because they didn't have the guts to jump, so now they can't follow us any further, and when Zoe and I get out of their sight we stop running and start regaining our breaths.

"You okay?" she asks.

"Yeah," I say, quickly taking the arrow off of my arm and throwing it away. But I already know enough about Zoe, so I figure it's time to stop pretending to be Sebastian. So I pass my hand over the wound and it starts glowing magenta, making the wound disappear instantaneously. I glance at Zoe, and I am confused to see that she doesn't look surprised at all.

She raises an eyebrow. "You never told me you had magic." She says dryly, sounding almost bored.

"I have a few tricks up my sleeve." I say with a smirk. Then I stalk towards her, but she doesn't back away.

"So are you going to stop pretending right now?"

"Pretending what, love?" I say.

She sights. "I know you are Pan."

I smirk again. "How long have you known?"

"Sense you disappeared throw the night." She says. Her tone is matter-of-fact. "And when you arrived and the lost boys found us a few minutes later, it wasn't hard to put the pieces together."

"So why keep on acting?" I say, giving a step closer to her.

"I figured I had two options: I could fight you and make you take me to my friends, or I could let you take me on your own." She says smugly.

"Such an intelligent girl." I say. "But if you fought me you would have lost."

She smirks. "Maybe. That's why I chose to keep with the act." She says, and then she walks a step closer to me. "Now is your turn to answer me something. Why did you brought my friends and I here?"

"The shadow got confused." I simply say.

"Good," she says. "Then we can get out of here."

"I wouldn't count on that." I say, and then I start walking round her. "You see, now that I've known you better, I am starting to realize that you could be very useful to me."

Zoe raises an eyebrow. "Useful for what?" she says.

"You'll find out soon enough, I promise."

"Then let my friends go. You don't need them."

"In fact I need them too," I say. "But for a different purpose."

"And what would that purpose be?" she asks.

"If I want you to do as I say," I explain. "Then I'll need someone to threaten you with."

* * *

**Hi Guys! So I had a story about this before but I didn't like it much so I deleted it. But don't worry! Because this one will be sooo much better. Now what do you think of this story? It can improve? It sucks? Its great? PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. And if you liked the story, don't hesitate to follow or favorite me ;)**


	2. Chapter 2

Felix's POV

I am seating on a stump when I see the leaves rustling on the other side of the camp. I stand up but calm down when I see Pan emerge from the trees, but I raise an eyebrow when I see Pan isn't alone, but a girl is walking next to him. She must be the girl I sent the lost boys to follow, but why is Pan bringing her to camp? Shouldn't she be in a cage? Pan tells her something and then leaves the girl alone as he walks towards me."What is she doing here?" I ask him.

"Why, I needed a place to leave her while I attend some business." He simply explains.

"Here at camp? Why not in a cage?"

"Because that's what I will do with a normal prisoner."

"And isn't she normal?" I ask, confused. We glance at her at the same time. The girl is leaning against a tree, watching the camp carefully.

Pan simply smirks. "You ask too many questions Felix." He says. "Let's just say that she can be useful to me and lets leave it at that." His tone made it obvious that he wasn't up for explaining anymore, so I just nod.

"Just keep a good look at her while I'm gone." He says. "And don't let her escape." Pan then walks away before I can answer, turning only once to give a last look at the girl. Their eyes meet and they both smirk at the same time. Then Pan is gone.

The girl doesn't look like she is planning on running away, but I still walk towards her holding a knife just in case she does.

"So you are the girl who has cost all this trouble?" I say when I am standing next to her.

She glances at me and then her gaze moves back to the lost boys, who are fighting with sticks. "Trouble? I only injured one of the lost boys. And I'm Zoe, by the way."

I don't know why, but the way in which she is barely paying any attention to me pisses me off, so I move in front of her, blocking her view. At that she sights. "What do you want?" she says, sounding bored again.

"Pan told me to keep an eye on you."

"This close? I don't think so." She says.

"Why? Does it bother you?" I ask with a smirk.

She rolls her eyes. "You are irritating. I can see why Pan chose you to be his second in command."

I freak out for a second when I hear what she knows about me, but then I remind myself that if I saw what she saw then it wouldn't be hard to put the pieces together: I was the one who Pan talked to first and I am the one who is keeping an eye on her.

"And I can see why she chose you to stay here." I say, and she raises an eyebrow. "You are just like Pan." I explain.

She chuckles. "Not only you are irritating but you are also crazy." She then stops leaning against the tree, standing up straight. "So what's your name?"

"I'm Felix." I say.

"So, Felix, would you tell me where the shadow keeps his prisoners?"

"You want to find your friends." I say, and smirk when I feel her tense. "I'm not telling you."

Before I can react, the knife I had is taken from my hand and she pushes me against the tree, holding the knife so that it is slightly touching my throat. When the lost boys see what has happened, they stop fighting and stay there watching like idiots instead of helping me.

"Now," says Zoe. "You can tell me where they are or I cut your throat."

"Not. Telling." I say. Then, finally, one of the older lost boys grabs his bow and throws an arrow at Zoe. I don't know how she does it, but she moves a centimeter to the side just in time, so that the arrow pierces the tree instead of her back. This really freaked me out, because there was no way she could see the arrow coming because she was facing to the other side. Before any of the lost boys can throw more arrows at her, Zoe hits me in the face with her elbow. Hard. And I fall to the ground. I see her running away from the camp, getting lost with the trees.

"Don't just stay there!" I say to the stunned lost boys. "Go get her!" The lost boys grab their weapons and go running after Zoe, while I am still on the floor, feeling a dull ache on my chin. When I see the blood in my fingers, I start to hope the lost boys accidently kill her instead of taking her prisoner again.

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

_Rumplestinskin and I watched the cab with the three girls leave the house. Those girls were wearing elegant dresses, whilst the girl in front of us wasn't. Cinderella looked around my age, but instead of jeans and a leather jacket she was wearing a filthy grey dress. Rumplestinskin and I could see her from here, but she couldn't see us because we were using our invisibility. We watch the girl broom with tears in her eyes, looking hopelessly at the castle, which was visible at the distance. While Cinderella was distracted, a small fairy wearing a yellow dress came flying from behind, stopping in front of her. _

"_Do not despair my dear, you will attend that ball." Said the fairy, her melodious voice making Cinderella turn to look at her. I glance at Rumplestinskin, who smirked when he saw the fairy. Before we came here, he told me he knew a fairy would come here to help this girl, Cinderella. Rumplestinskin wanted the wand the fairy possessed, that's why we came here. _

"_Who are you?" asked Cinderella. At that, the fairy turned into her original form, growing to a human size. "I'm your fairy godmother." She replied. "And I'm here to change your life, Cinderella."_

"_Here she is, now what are you waiting for?" I whispered to Rumplestinskin. _

"_Not yet dearie. I need to be sure she has the wand." He said to me._

"_But, my stepmother told me that I couldn't go, she forbade me to leave." Cinderella said sadly._

"_Your step mother doesn't have this." Said the fairy, making a bright yellow wand appear._

"_Do you want to do the honors?" Rumplestinskin asked me. _

"_This wand has the power to take you to your ball. To your prince, and to-."_

_I simply smirked and with a wave of my hand, the fairy vanished into thin air, leaving yellow dust behind and, of course, the wand. _

_Cinderella took several steps back, looking startled. "What? Uh?" she said to herself. Then Rumplestinskin took the invisibility from us so that Cinderella could see us. He crouched to pick up the wand._

"_What did you do?" Cinderella asked, looking strait into my blue eyes. But it was Rumplestinskin who answered._

"_Now, now, I got what I wanted." He said. "There's no need to be frightened."_

"_No need?" Cinderella asked incredulous. "You just killed my fairy god-mother. She was trying to help me."_

"_Was she?" He said. "Do you know what this is?" He moved the wand and almost sang his words. _

"_Pure magic." Cinderella answered._

"_Pure evil." I corrected. "Trust me, we've done you a favor. All magic comes with a price. Go and budge your life. And if you're lucky enough you'll still have something to go back to."_

"_I have nothing to go back to." Said Cinderella. "My life, it's wretched." _

"_Then change it." Rumplestinskin said. "You can't handle this." He pointed at the wand he was holding. Then we turned around and started walking away from Cinderella._

"_Wait please, wait." She begged, running till she was in front of us. "I can handle it. Please, I will do anything to get out of here, anything." _

"_Anything?" Rumplestinskin asked her, and I glanced at him. I knew that look; I have seen it throughout the years I've known him. This is the look when he is about to make one of his deals. _

"_Does one of you know how to use that wound, Mr. and M.s…?"_

"_Rumplestinskin," he vowed. _

"_Zoe Brook." I said with a smirk. "And yes, of course we do."_

"_Then help me." Said Cinderella. _

"_Well if I do, and you can indeed shoulder the…consequences, then you'll owe me a favor." Rumplestinskin said, walking round Cinderella. _

"_Name it, what do you want?" She asked. _

"_Something precious." Rumplestinskin answered. _

"_But I have nothing."_

"_Oh, but you will." He said. "From this wish will come riches more than you know."_

"_I care nothing for riches, I'll give you anything you want just get me out of here." Rumplestinskin smiled and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. This girl was so naïve._

"_Now we are talking." He said. _

"_Well, how does it work?" She asked. _

"_Fear not. My needs are small, and all you have to do is sign on the dotted line." When he finished saying the word 'line', a stretched contract and a quill appeared on his hand. "Do we have a deal?" He asked._

"_Yes, yes thank you." Said Cinderella, relief clear in her voice. Rumplestinskin placed the piece of paper against his back and crouched a little while Cinderella signed as fast as she could. When she finished, Rumplestinskin stood up straight and looked at the contract to verify that the sign was actually written, before he spoke. _

"_Zoe, if you will?" He handed me the wand and I grabbed it. I knew exactly what to do. With a flicker of my wrist, Cinderella was covered in a purple haze that instantly vanished, revealing her in a light-blue fancy dress, white globs, a necklace and a small silver crown covering her blond, tidy placed hair. Cinderella stared at her with a smile on her face, then her gaze fixed on the glass shoes I left in front of her and she looked confused at me. _

"_Glass?" She asked. _

"_Every story needs a memorable detail." I said and smiled. "Let's see how they fit, shall we?" _

_Cinderella lifted her long dress a little bit to help her place her feet in the shoes. "Now you have a good time." I continued. "But remember to watch the clock."_

* * *

Balefire's POV

I am seating on my bed, trying to get some sleep, but the rock is so uncomfortable I can't really get any. Then suddenly I hear footsteps, and they are coming closer. Suddenly a girl jumps into the cave, which is hidden by some leaves and tall rocks. I don't know how she saw the cave, when I have been living here hiding from the lost boys for years and they have never spotted me. I stand up quickly and reach for the knife I always sleep next to. But before I grab it, I feel a hand against my mouth and when I look up again I see that the girl is now in front of me, looking at me with pleading blue eyes.

"Be quiet." She whispers and, to my surprise, I nod. She doesn't remove her hand from my mouth yet, but she turns her head over her shoulder to look at the entrance of the cave, where I can hear footsteps on the other side.

"Where did she go?" says one of the lost boys.

"You lost her?" another boy says.

"It wasn't my fault! She is too fast!"

"Tell that to Pan." The first boy says. "We'll split up. This group goes left and we go right."

"Let's go." Another voice says. I hear them run away, and a few seconds later the girl finally sights in relieve and removes her hand from my mouth.

"Thanks." She says. "I just couldn't keep running any longer."

This girl is pretty. She looks a few years older than me, but I doubt she really is because I am the one who doesn't grow old here. I can't shake this feeling; like I know her from somewhere.

"How did you do that?" I say.

She raises an eyebrow. "Did what?"

"You, you used magic."

"Yeah." She says, like it's the most common thing in the world.

"Why were they following you?" I ask her, changing the subject when she doesn't say anything else about her magic. She has already started walking around, admiring the cave.

"Isn't it obvious?" she says. "I escaped."

"But what are you doing here in Neverland, I mean, you are a _girl_."

"Pan said his shadow got confused, but he doesn't want to let me get out of here anyway."

"I understand." I say. "Pan hasn't let me go either."

"You're counting the days?" she says, passing her hand over the wall where I draw a white line with chalk every day.

I nod. "You've been here a long time." She states and all I can manage to do is to nod again.

"What world are you from?" I ask her.

"A place called the enchanted forest." She says, still looking at the marks on the wall.

Realization hits me in the second. "Zoe?"

She turns to look at me, and raises an eyebrow before realization hits her too, and then she stalks towards me and we hug. Tears threaten to fall down my eyes as I hug her tightly, and I start having flashbacks back when I meat her at the enchanted forest so many years ago, and how she helped my father to become the Dark One. But I have never seen Zoe cry before, and I know that she wont cry now, so I pull the tears back in.

"I've missed you so much." I say, and I immediately know that she missed me too, though she will never admit it.

"The portal took you to Neverland." She states when we stop hugging. "Rumplestinskin hasn't stopped looking for you."

At the mention of my father, I tense. After all this years, I can still remember when he let me fall through that stupid portal, replacing me for the power of a dagger like if I meant nothing to him. Now I am trapped here, and it's his entire fault.

"He's a coward." I say. Zoe looks at me with pity in her eyes, something she has only done once before. She doesn't like showing her feelings, she never has. But with me its like she lets me in more than she does with the rest of the people.

"You've been trapped a long time, Bae." She says. "Time we get out of here."

"But it's impossible." I say. "I have tried everything."

"That's because you didn't have me." She says smugly – just like I remember her. "And you didn't have my magic."

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

_Cinderella and Prince Thomas walked down the stairs, entering the hall. I hadn't seen Rumplestinskin yet, so he was probably not here yet or he was invisible for now. Cinderella is in a very pretty white dress, and I am in a red one. Cinderella and Thomas walked to the center of the room, followed by the people's claps. I catched Snow White and James at the other side of the room, and my eyes meat with Snow's. She told something to James and they started walking towards me, stopping in front of me. _

"_Zoe!" said Snow with a wide smile. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't invited."_

"_I am not." I said with a smile. Snow gave me a look. _

"_Do you even know Cinderella?"_

"_We've met before, briefly anyway." I shrugged. _

"_How are you Zoe?" asked James. "It's good to see you."_

"_I'm fine." I said. "How about you?" _

"_We haven't been better." Said James, taking Snow's hand. _

"_Good," I said. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to dance." I said and walked away. The music had started and people were dancing on the middle of the room, Cinderella and her new husband included. I started dancing with a man I didn't know while I was eyeing Cinderella, who was talking to Snow White. But when they finished dancing, Rumplestinskin appeared. He was using his magic to not let anyone but Cinderella see him._

"_I'm proud of you too." Said Rumplestinskin. My magic allowed me to hear him clearly, though I was on the other side of the hall. The man who I was dancing with looked bored, but I didn't care, this was more important. _

"_You," said Cinderella. "What are you doing here?" Rumplestinskin grabbed her gently from her waist and they started to dance. _

"_I just wanted to make sure that you were happy with your end of the barging. You know; true love, riches, happy endings, did you get everything you desired?" He said. _

"_Yes, yes I did. Now, what do you want?" asked Cinderella impatiently. She was very tense and serious, completely opposite of the last time, where she was happy and excited. "What's your price? My jewels? The ring?" she guessed, but she was obviously wrong because Rumplestinskin can spin straw into gold. _

"_No, no dear, keep your jewels." He said. "What I want is something you don't yet posses. It's something I know is coming; your first born." When he finished saying the word 'born', he turned Cinderella around and walked away. _

_After the wedding, I transported myself to Rumplestinskin's castle. He was sitting on his chair, spinning. _

"_Why? Why do you want the damn child?" I asked him, and when he keeps spinning and just ignores me, I make the spin stop with my magic. At that, he turned to look at me._

"_To which child are you referring?" He asked. _

_I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."_

_He stood up and I followed him with my eyes. "You mean Cinderella's first born? He is the son of the new king and queen, why wouldn't I want it?"_

"_You're amazing." I said sarcastically, and turned to walk away._

* * *

"_By the way, have you seen Rumplestinskin? I haven't seen him sense Cinderella's wedding." I said to Snow White. A month had gone by and I had finally decided to talk to him. I went to his castle and when I didn't saw him I shrugged it off and decided to come another day, thinking that he was at business. But the next day he wasn't home either. I had asked Claire and Emily if they had heard from him, and now Snow White._

"_You didn't know?" Asked Snow White, guilt visible in her green eyes. _

"_Didn't know what?" I said._

"_Rumplestinskin is in a cell in the mines, he was set up by Cinderella." She said, actually sounding sorry about it. _

"_But that's impossible." I started. "How did you manage to do that?"_

"_By using a magic quid." She said. "Rumplestinskin was told that Cinderella had twins and she wanted to trade the second one for comfort of the kingdom. So he signed a new contract with the magic quid and when he did he couldn't move or use his magic."_

_I shrugged. "I suppose he deserved it. Good bye Snow."_

* * *

"_You knew you where going to end up here." I stated. "And you still went to meet Cinderella, which means you are exactly where you want to be."_

_Rumplestinskin was in front of me, the cell bars separating us. I went straight to see him after talking to Snow White. He clapped enthusiastically when he saw I had got it right._

"_You are such an intelligent girl." He complimented me. I smiled. "The only thing I don't know is, why? Why be trapped?" _

"_You'll find out soon enough." He said. "I promise." _

* * *

Balefire's POV

"The dark Hollow." I say. "That's where the shadow lives, and he also keeps some special prisoners there, so I bet your friends are in there."

Zoe has already filled me in with how the shadow kidnapped her, how she used her magic to make the shadow drop her, her encounter with Pan (who pretended to be Sebastian), and than now she is keeping her magic as a secret.

"Brilliant!" I had said. "It will be like your secret weapon!" she nodded.

Now Zoe and I are outside of the Dark Hallow, which looks like a very big cave but unlike mine, this one is out in the open.

"Wait here." She says.

"What? Why? I want to help!" I say.

"You will help me," she says. "By staying here."

"What am I supposed to do?" she thinks about it for a second. "Keep watch."

I give her a look and she sights. "Look, Bae, if you go there with me you will only distract me and give me something to worry about because you don't have magic, so therefore you can't defend yourself."

"That's what you say," I say. "But deep down you know that you worry about me, that's why you don't want me to get in – because I will be in danger."

"Whatever." She says, but smiles her crooked smile. Then she walks away from me, and I see her disappear as she walks into the Dark Hollow.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter Pan's POV

When I walked back to camp after a few hours, I immediately knew something was wrong. I could see it in the lost boys because they weren't playing around, but they were seating on the floor, clearly nervous. When they saw me emerge from the trees, all of their faces turned towards me and I noticed Zoe was nowhere to be seen. I glared at Felix, and he stood up.

"I'm sorry, Pan." He said. "But we lost the girl."

I breathed out heavily to calm myself before replying. "How did you loose her?"

"She ran away and we lost her track. It won't happen again."

"Sure it won't." I said with a deadly look. "I am going to have to find her myself now."

"How will you do that?" Felix asked.

"Because I already know where she is." I said with a smirk before transporting myself inside the Dark Hollow.

* * *

_Zoe´s POV_

_After travelling and travelling from town to town without some place to go in mind, I stopped by a small town, where a bunch of people gathering around called my attention, so I joined them without caring if they would recognize me because I was wearing my brown cloak with my hood up. _

"_No, please." The man and the woman repeated over and over. They were walking after a knight, who was walking with a girl, holding her shoulder. _

"_No, you can't take her." The woman said. _

_The knight and the girl stopped walking when they were in front of a knight on a horse, who looked like he was the leader of all the knights who were on their horses. _

"_She is my baby." The woman begged, who apparently was the girl's mother. "Don't kill my baby." She had stopped walking too, and was being hugged by who I supposed was her husband, as she talked to the knight on the horse. _

"_Nonsense," the knight on the horse said. "She is a fine, strong girl. She'll make a fine soldier."_

"_There's a mistake." The father said. "She is turning fourteen, only fourteen."_

"_Orders of the duke!" The knight said with a harsh tone. By then I knew what this was; because of the Ogre War, the children had to be taken to the front lines to fight. It wasn't pretty, but it was inevitable. "The Ogre Wars have taken the top of the season." The knight pointed to the red smoke that could be seen in the horizon, where the war was happening. "More troops will turn the tie."_

_The knight then glanced at the knight who was standing next to the girl. "Take her. She'll ride with me." He said, and the girl was placed on the knight's horse, behind him. _

"_No, you can't have her." The father said. Then the mother took a knife from her cloth and was pointing it at the knight, when a transparent layer that I immediately recognized as the Dark One's magic, suddenly stopped them. _

_The mother and the father fell to the ground, and they seemed to be struggling for breath. My gaze then went to the Dark One, who was on a horse, wearing a black hood and raising a big wand from where the waves of magic were coming from. The duke had the Dark One under his control – the Dark One is inmortal, and I am only partially inmortal. By the time I was sixteen years old, but when I turned 17 I stopped getting old, but I can be killed._

"_The Dark One seems to think I can." The knight said to the mother and the father, though they didn't seem to hear him. Then he made a gesture to the Dark One and the waves of magic disappeared, letting the father and the mother take in a lungful of air. Then the knights rid away with the girl, the cries of her family following after them. _

"_My birthday is in three days, they'll come for me in three days." I heard a boy beside me say to who seemed to be his father, who I knew was limp because he was holding himself with a cane. _

"_We'll find a way, Bae. We'll find a way."_

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

A few minutes later, I see Zoe entering the Dark Hollow. I am right beside her but she can't see me because of my magic. She has entered the cave completely unarmed, though she looks very confident. Does she know my shadows are here? Either way her foolishness surprises me.

Zoe doesn't even flinch when three shadows let themselves be seen. The shadow in the middle is my shadow, the most powerful one. They fly around her and when one of them is on his way to grab her, Zoe raises her hand and my eyes wide open when a dark grey light emerges from it. The light reaches the shadow, making it disappear into thin air.

I can't believe what I'm seeing. Zoe has magic! And it's not any common magic, but this one is powerful and rare. I have never seen this type of magic before but, if my prediction is correct, I think I know what kind of magic she is using.

There are two more shadows left. One of them flings towards Zoe and tries to rip her shadow out, but when for some reason Zoe's shadow doesn't go out of her body, she is suddenly on the other side of the cave and she throws a fireball at it, making the shadow turn to ashes. Maybe Zoe killed two shadows, but she is missing the real one. My shadow pushes her, making her fall to the other edge of the cave, hitting the wall. She stands up immediately, taking the drops of blood coming from her mouth with the back of her hand impatiently, before the shadow flings towards her all of a sudden. Zoe reacts just in time, and the way she moves, it's like if she wasn't touching the ground. She is like lighting; one moment she is in front of the shadow and the next she runs to the other side of the cave as fast as light, followed by a grey shade behind her.

Zoe stops when she is behind the shadow and while the shadow is turning around, she glances upwards and I follow her gaze to see that there are cracks on the roof that form a circle just above my shadow. When the shadow faces her she smirks and with a movement of her wrist the roof falls. Well, not the entire roof or she would be buried under it too - but a giant rock falls directly on the shadow, creating a layer of dust that surrounds the cave.

* * *

_Zoe´s POV_

_I stayed in that town for the afternoon and when night fell I left and started walking on my way to the next town. That's when I saw three knights in their horses in front of a man and a boy, the same ones who I had seen in the morning, when the girl was taken to the Ogre War. So I used my magic and made myself invisible._

"_Stop right there." The leader of the knight says. "What are you doing on the king's realm?"_

"_We got some wool to sell at the fair of longhops." The father of the boy said. _

"_I know you, don't I?" The knight got off his horse and walked towards the boy's father. "What was your name? Spindle-chunks. Thread-whistle. Hobble-foot." He said, followed by the other two knights' laugh. _

"_His name is Rumplestinskin." His son said proudly. _

"_Quiet, Bae." Said Rumplestinskin to his son, touching his shoulder._

"_Rumplestinskin? Ah, the man who ran." Said the knight. "Is this your boy?" he glanced at Bae. "How old is he?" he asked Rumplestinskin, but when he didn't answer the knight turned to Bae. _

"_What's your name?" the knight asked him. _

"_I'm Balefire and I'm thirteen." Balefire answered with a confident tone._

"_When is your birthday?"_

"_In two days time." _

"_Quiet, Bae." His father insisted. _

"_Did you teach him how to run as well, Rumplestinskin?" the knight asked, followed by Balefire's confused look. "Did he tell you?" he asked Balefire. "Did he tell you how he ran, and the ogres turned the tie of the battle, and all the others were killed, and he returned home to a wife who could not bare the sight of him."_

"_Please." Rumplestinskin whispered._

"_You see; women don't like to be married to cowards."_

"_Please don't talk to my boy like that." Rumplestinskin pleaded again._

"_It's treason to avoid service," said the knight and the he turned to face the other two knights "Take the boy now."_

"_No, no, no, no!" said Rumplestinskin, causing the knight to turn around again. "What do you want?" _

"_What do I want?" The knight asked." You have no money, no influence, no land, no title or power. The truth is all you really have is fealty. Kiss my boot."_

"_I don't understand." Rumplestinskin said. _

"_You ask my price: Kiss. My. Boot."_

"_Not in front of my boy."_

"_Kiss my boot!" the knight said. Rumplestinskin immediately kneeled and kissed the man's boot, causing him and the other knights to laugh. Then the knight kicked Rumplestinskin in the face, making him roll down. _

"_Papa!" Balefire rushed to kneel beside his father. The knight got on his horse and the other two knights and him rid away. I then made myself be visible again and walked towards Rumplestinskin. _

"_You okay?" I asked, offering him my hand. He took it and stood up as I used my magic to lift his cane. Their faces of surprise were priceless._

"_Was that magic?" Balefire asked. _

"_Yeah." I said. _

_Then an old man walked towards us. "It's okay," he said. "Let me help you home."_

"_Thank you old man." Balefire said._

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

When the layer of dust clears there is light in the cave, coming from the big hole on the roof. Zoe is smirking at my shadow, who has half of his body trapped under the rock and is trying to fly upwards but he can't because the rock is too big and too heavy. Then Zoe walks past my shadow, towards the cages that are at the end of the cave, but when she says that all of the cages are empty, her smirk disappears. It's a good thing that I managed to move her friends some place safe before Zoe got here.

She then glance at _me,_ like she knows I am in the room, and smiles before a dark grey haze surrounds her and she is gone. Confused, I release my shadow by using my magic to lift the rock and stick it back on the roof. Then I walk out to the bright sunlight, and again I am surprised to see Zoe is there, lining against a tree.

"You knew I was there." I state as I start walking round her.

"Yes."

Now we are standing only a few inches away from each other, her blue eyes fixing on mine.

I smirk. "I only spied on you for some minutes and I already know so much about you."

She smirks back at me and crosses her arms. "Is that so?"

"Well, for once, I know you have magic."

"Yeah, I was kind on saving it for a rainy day." She says.

"But I find out now, so you will have to explain some stuff to me."

"Like what?" She raises an eyebrow.

"I have leaved for centuries and I have seen very few people use that kind of magic."

She chuckles. "What's the matter Peter? Are you scared that my magic is more powerful than yours?"

"That's impossible, love." I say.

"So fill me in," she says. "What do you know about my magic?"

I smirk and walk a little closer to her. "It's extremely rare, because using it requires a very big amount of power, a power you have to be born with. A practitioner of magic can control light magic or dark magic – you however, have the power to control both, which makes you twice as powerful.

She smiles a crooked smile. "You seem overly happy about my magic. Aren't you worried that I can overpower you?"

I chuckle. "If you thought you were more powerful than me you would've confronted me already." I say as I gently touch her cheek with the back of my hand and then place a light brown strand of her hair behind her ear. "Besides, this new information made me realize that you are far more precious than I thought you were, which only makes me want to keep you more."

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

_The man and I carried Rumplestinskin back to his house. Balefire fell asleep and I sat next to Rumplestinskin with the old man across from us, eating some soup. _

"_And what is your name?" asked Rumplestinskin to me. I remembered I hadn't taken my hood off, so I did. When Rumplestinskin and the old man saw my face, Rumplestinskin looked startled though the old man looked impressed._

"_Zoe Brook, in the flesh." Said the old man, a comment to which I simply smiled. _

"_You need to find another way." I said to Rumplestinskin. "You need to choose a different path."_

"_Choose? What choice do I have." Asked Rumplestinskin._

"_Everyone has a choice." Said the old man. _

"_I'm the town coward. The only choice I have is in which corner to hide in. Limp, friendless – the only thing I got is my boy, and they're going to take him away from me. If they take him away I will truly, truly become dust." Said Rumplestinskin._

"_Not if you have power." Said the old man._

"_I'm not Zoe, I don't have any magic." Said Rumplestinskin. _

"_Think. Why do you think someone as powerful as the Dark One would work for a useless fool like the Duke of the front?" said the old man. _

"_Tell me."_

"_It is because the Duke has enslaved the Dark One with a power of a mystical dagger." I reply boringly._

"_And on the blade it's written the true name of the Dark One. If you were to steal the dagger, then you would control the dark one yourself. And then no one would be able to take your son away from you." Said the old man._

"_But keep a man like the Dark One as a slave? I can't, I'd be terrified." _

"_Then perhaps, instead of controlling the power you need to take it." The old man said._

* * *

"_What are you waiting for, papa?" asked Balefire._

"_I'm waiting for Zoe, she said she'll meet us outside of the Duke's castle."_

"_Oh, I'm here." I said, walking towards them. I had just transported myself beside them, though they couldn't see me with the darkness of the night. _

"_Great," said Rumplestinskin. "Now, will you like to do the honors?" _

_I replied with a crooked smile before a ball of fire appeared on my hand, and a few seconds after I threw it to the wall, the fire had spread through the entire castle. _

_I glanced at Balefire, who had his mouth wide opened, and then back at Rumplestinskin. "Let's go," I said to him, and after grabbing his shoulder I transported us to the room where I knew the Dagger was supposed to be, leaving Balefire to ran to the woods. The room was completely on fire, but my magic helped us to evade it. _

_Rumplestinskin and I walked towards the end of the room, where a curtain fell to the ground with a wave of my hand, revealing the Dagger._

_Rumplestinskin grabbed the dagger and held it so that we could see that it had written the name _Zoso _over it. Then I grabbed his shoulder again and we where at the woods, where we agreed to meet Balefire. He was seating against a tree trunk before he saw us and stood up immediately. _

"_Papa, I was so worried for you." He said. "Are you burned? The castle-."_

"_No, I'm fine, son. I had Zoe to help me out." Rumplestinskin replied, earning a twisted lip from me, and a nod from Balefire. "I need you to go home and wait for me there. Zoe will come with you." Rumplestinskin eyed me for permission and I nodded. _

"_Papa, please. I have a bad feeling." Said Balefire. _

"_Bae, this is something I have to do on my own. Go home, son. Go home and wait for me, Bae. I'll be back, you go." Said Rumplestinskin. _

_I wrapped an arm around Balefire's shoulder and turned to walk away, though I stopped and turned my head over my shoulder to look at Rumplestinskin. "A bit of advice." I said. "This kind of power - it's better to control it than to own it." Rumplestinskin nodded, though I didn't think he was sure. Anyhow, I transported Balefire and I back to their home._

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

My lip twists when I feel her body tense, and she opens her mouth to reply but before she can get a word out I turn and stop an arrow coming towards me when it is only inches apart from piercing my chest. My gaze goes from the arrow to Balefire, who is standing a few meters away with a crossbow, probably stolen from the lost boys, not bothering to hide the surprised look on his face. But Zoe, however, is really good at making a poker face.

I chuckle. "Did you really think it would be that easy? After all we've been through?" I say to Balefire, who only now reacts and lowers the crossbow.

"No, you are not getting anywhere near her!" He says.

"But you can't do anything about it, can you?" I say. Then Zoe uses her magic to suddenly be beside Balefire.

"You might as well leave." She says to him, placing a hand on his shoulder gently, though her tone is harsh.

My gaze turns to Zoe. "Why, but he just got here. You see, Zoe, Balefire has been hiding alone for a very long time. And thanks to you, now he doesn't have to be alone anymore. Right boys?" I say, and then the lost boys emerge from the trees.

Balefire tries to run away but the lost boys surround him and end up tying his hands and feet together.

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

"_They are here! The knights!" Balefire said to me as he was passing around the room. _

"_Relax," I said as I was seating on a bed. "If they take you I will come and get you when you are at the battle fields, you'll be safe."_

"_It's not that." _

_I raised an eyebrow. "Then what is it?" _

"_It's my father." I sight. "I know you've told me this a thousand times, but I still think something wrong happened."_

"_Your father is okay." I simply said, though I wasn't so sure myself. Then three knights came into the house. Among them was the knight who had made Rumplestinskin kiss his boot a few nights away. Balefire turned to me but I had already made myself invisible, because if the knight would've seen me he would've attacked me and I would've been forced to kill him. He grabbed Balefire from his shoulder and walked him out the door, to the brightness of the day. _

"_Everyone's watching from behind their curtains today." The knight said, followed by the chuckles of his partners. But his smile disappeared when the knight in front of him gave a small hiss of pain, followed by him falling dead to the ground, revealing a man on a cloak with the hood up, who was holding a blooded knife. _

_As I looked closer into the man I recognized him - it was Rumplestinskin, but clearly nobody else had recognized him yet. _

"_Dark One." Said the leader of the knights as he bowed. Rumplestinskin gave a few steps closer to him before realization finally hitted the man. "No," he said. "Who are you?" _

"_Have you forgotten me already?" Rumplestisnkin said. "What as it you used to call me, again? Spindle-chunks?" He clicked his fingers. "Hobble-foot." _

_My gaze went to Balefire. "Papa?" he said. _

_The knight started to shiver as he saw that the dagger Rumplestinskin was holding has his name written on it. _

"_Rumplestiskin." He said._

"_Wonderful." Rumplestinskin replied. "And now you shall know me as the new Dark One. How about a little fealty?" He placed his foot in front of the knight. "Kiss. My. Boot." _

_The knight was leaning down when Rumplestinskin placed his hand on the knight's head and twisted it, making him fall dead and the other knights to react by taking their swords out of their sheaths._

"_No, Papa!" said Balefire, but it was too late. Rumplestisnkin had started stubbing everyone with his dagger, till they were all dead. Balefire couldn't close his mouth. _

"_Papa? What has happened to you?"_

"_You are safe, Bae." Rumplestinskin had started stalking towards Balefire. "Do you feel safe, son?" _

"_No, I'm afraid." Balefire replied._

"_I'm not. I protected what belongs to me. And now I'm not scared of anything." He said._

"_You should be." I said as I made myself visible. Then a dark grey light emerged from my hand and he was sent flying backwards. _

"_Papa!" Balefire shouted. _

"_I'm not letting you anywhere near him." I said to Rumplestinskin as he stood up, walking in front of Balefire protectively. _

_Rumplestinskin chuckled. "You are powerful, Zoe. But not enough." He said, and then I was floating in the air with my hands around my throat, struggling for breath._

"_Papa! Please! She is the reason you have all this power! She helped us!" I could barely hear Balefire say, but Rumplestinskin only pressed harder. _

_I was about to pass out when I managed to get a wave of my magic to expand from my body and making him fall to the ground, which made him release me. I regained my breath at the same time as he stood up, but instead of killing me, he nodded for me to leave. My gaze went to Balefire, who was standing next to me, and then back at Rumplestinskin. _

"_I'm not backing up." I said. "I'm staying in this town."_

"_Why?" He asked._

"_Because Balefire no longer has a father." I said with poison in my words. "So he will need me."_

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

"Take him back to camp." I say to the lost boys, and then Balefire is dragged away. When they are out of sight I turn back to Zoe, who is confidently leaning against a tree trunk. Our eyes meet, green and blue, and she raises an eyebrow.

"What? Aren't you taking me too?" She asks. "I wouldn't mind cause I'm coming to rescue him anyway."

"Even if you did rescue him," I say, "There would be no point," I corner Zoe against the tree trunk, trapping her, "You will still be trapped in Neverland."

She sights. "How about you an I make a deal?"

I raise an eyebrow. "What kind of deal?

"Let Balefire go, let him get off this island."

I chuckle. "And in exchange?"

She takes a moment before answering. "And in exchange, I promise I will never try get out of Neverland unless you want me to."

At that I pull away and start walking round Zoe, who stands up straight.

"You can't get out of Neverland, love."

"Maybe, maybe not." She says. "But with this deal, you wont have to worry. I will be yours, forever."

The idea of not having to worry about capturing Zoe every second sounds tempting.

"And why do you think I would exchange the son of the Dark One for you?"

A look of confusion shows in Zoe's face, but only for a brief second, before she instantly replaces it for a smug one. "You said it, I am someone with extremely rare gifts. I could be a hell of a lost girl, which will be a lot more useful than Balefire."

I stop walking and appear in front of her – Zoe does know how to get what she wants – but I guess that's what I like about her.

"Do we have a deal?" She asks, extending her hand.

My gaze turns to her eyes, to her hand, and back to her eyes again.

"Deal." I say, and shake her hand.

Zoe smirks. "Wonderful."

"But if Balefire is to get off Neverland, it will be under my terms."

She raises an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Balefire will never know I let him go – he will think he escaped for himself." I say.

"But then he will want to take me with him, he won't leave me here."

"That," I say. "Is a problem I'm counting on you solving."

She gives me a crooked smile. "It shall be easy." I say. "Make it a game."

She gives a step closer to me. "It's a good thing I love games."

* * *

**Hi Guys! I am really, really, really, really, really sorry for updating so late! Its just that I have been so bussy with school and friends that I haven't had time for myself lately, but now I'm back! I just want you to know that I'm not giving up on this story, so please review and tell me if you liked this chapter. Any theories about what will happen next? Follow, favorite, review, whatever you want. **


	4. Chapter 4

Balefire's POV

I haven't stopped thinking about Zoe thought the hole day. After she entered the Dark Hollow, I heard and watched as part of the roof fell and then was fixed right up, but I resisted the urge to help her in fear that if I got in there I would only make it worse. When Zoe appeared walking away from the cave, a wave of relieve went through me.

"What happened in there?" I asked when she was standing in front of me. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay but there's no time to explain." She said, and touched my shoulder. "I need you to run back to your cave, right now."

"Why?" She turned her head over her shoulder to look at the Dark Hollow, then her gaze fixed back on me.

"Just do it." She asked in a pleading tone, which made me realize something was up. I turned and ran away without looking back. I ran as fast as I could till I reached my cave and tried to relax without succeeding. I ended up grabbing the crossbow I stole from one of the lost boy's a long time ago and going after Zoe.

I am seating on the floor with my back against a tree trunk now, after the Lost Boys walked me, no, more like _carried_ me to camp. I haven't been here in years, sense I managed to escape and started leaving aloof from the Lost Boys in a hidden cave. Now that the sky is dark again, the lost boys have put up a bonfire and are dancing around it.

My gaze goes up when I see Zoe and Pan emerge from the trees. Pan is walking after Zoe, holding her shoulder, a gesture to which Zoe responds by scowling and moving her shoulder slightly to the side, making Pan's hand fall beside him. When Zoe sees me she confidently walks towards me, and seats down next to me.

"Are you alright?" she asks.

"You are asking how _I _am? I am the one who disserves answers here!" I say, and then my gaze goes to the camp – no one is paying any attention to us, they are all playing around except for Pan, who is talking to Felix at the other end of the camp. I glance back at Zoe, who seemed to have been following my gaze.

"What do you want to know?" she asks with her gaze still fixed on Pan.

"Did you find Claire and Emily? Why did the roof fell?"

"Pan must have moved them before I got to the Dark Hollow." She explains. "The roof fell because I was fighting his shadows." She must have seen my worried look, because she immediately adds: "But I'm okay."

"Good," I say.

"Now we have to focus on getting you out of here." She finally looks at me.

"Well, getting back to my cave wont be so hard, you just have to use your magic."

"I didn't mean to get you out of the camp." She says, and then lowers her voice a little. "What I meant is that we have to get you out of Neverland."

"But how?"

"I got a plan."

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

_I was walking in the woods when a spear was thrown towards me. I managed to lean slightly to the left so that the spear grazed me and pierced a tree beside me instead of my chest. My head turned to the woman with black hair and very white skin, who was standing only two meters away with a surprised look on her face._

"_Oh my god, I am so sorry." She said, walking a few steps towards me. "I thought you were one of the queen's knights."_

_I raised an eyebrow but say nothing. "It's just that I just find out Charming is getting married even though I haven't stopped thinking about him sense the day we met, and-." _

_I then putted my hood down so that she could see who I was and leave me alone. "I really don't care." I said, cutting her off. Instead of running away like most people would have, she tilted her head slightly to the side. _

"_Are you Zoe Brook?" She asked. _

_I gave a step towards her. "Are you Snow White." I said, showing her the piece of paper with her face drawn in it that I had found stuck to a tree trunk. _

(LÍNEA)

Peter Pan's POV

"Yes," I say to Felix. "We thought of everything." I glance at Zoe, who is seating next to Balefire, probably telling him the plan. "I already told my shadow that when he is 'captured' he must take the boy to another round."

"Aren't you taking him back to were he comes from? The Enchanted forest, is it?" Felix asks.

"No," I say. "I need him in this new round I am sending him to so that we can achieve our goal." He nods, and then he looks away. I follow his gaze to find Zoe, who is still talking to Balefire.

"Are you sure exchanging the boy for her is a good idea?" He asks me, still looking at Zoe.

"More than sure." I say. "You see, Zoe has magic, and it's not any kind of magic, this one is very powerful. It's a mix of dark and light magic."

Felix raises an eyebrow. "But that is-."

"Impossible, I know." I cut him off.

Felix smirks. "Having her in our side can be very useful for us in the future."

I nod. "I know." I say. "That's why she is far more precious than the Dark One's son."

"But are you sure she will keep her promise of not escaping?"

"If she doesn't, her friends will be the ones to pay."

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

"_So, how long have you been running from the queen?" I asked Snow White, who was seating beside me on a rock._

"_A few months." She said. "I heard she wants you dead too, and that there is a bounty on your head."_

"_Well, that makes us two." I replied. "But she has wanted me dead since we met."_

"_Why?" she asked. "What did you do to her?"_

"_It's complicated."_

"_That makes us two." She said, smiling. _

"_Do you happen to have something magical in your satchel?" I asked, glancing at the object resting beside her. _

_She chuckled nervously. "Why do you ask?" _

"_Because I can feel the waves on magic coming from it." I said. "Can I see it?"_

_Snow sighted and then lifted the satchel so that it was resting on her lap instead of on the rock we were seating on, and took a bottle with a transparent liquid in it. _

_I grabbed the bottle from her hand and started staring at it from different angles. "Who gave you this?"_

"_A man named Rumplestinskin." Snow White said, making my lips tilt. "Why, do you know him?"_

"_More than I'd want to." I said. _

"_Well, that's not much of a surprise, I mean, you are both magical and everything."_

"_Yeah, I guess it is." I said. "Now, do you know what this bottle does?"_

"_It makes me forget the man I'm in love with." She answers without taking her eyes off the bottle. _

"_Correct." I said. "So why would you want to use it?"_

"_Because the man I love is getting married." She said, almost in a whisper._

"_You do realize that, if you do this, your pain won't be the only thing that will be lost?"_

"_What do you mean?" she asked. _

"_That I wouldn't drink it if I were you." I said before standing up and handing her the bottle. "Anyway, its your choice." I started to walk away but stopped when I felt something flying over me. I turned my head over my shoulder to see that a pigeon had landed on Snow's hand, the hand she was holding the bottle with. _

_She took a scrolled paper from the pigeon and the pigeon flew away. Snow's gaze went to me, then back at the scroll. _

_I walked back to my seat. "Go ahead, open it."_

_Snow White did as she was told and I moved my head so that I could read the letter too. _

_Dear Snow: _

_I have not heard from you since our meeting and can only assume you found the happiness you so desired, but I must let you know that not a day goes by that not a day goes by that I've not thought of you. In two days time I am to be married, come to me and show me you feel the same and we can be together forever. And if you don't, I will have my answer._

_Snow White brought the letter to her chest. A smile had drawn on her face._

"_I bet this is the man you wanted to forget." _

"_He is." She said. _

"_But if he loves you, why can't he cancel the marriage?" I asked. _

"_Because he is Prince James." She shot. _

_I chuckled. "You mean, king George's son?" _

_Snow nodded. "He has an arranged marriage with Princess Abigail."_

"_Okay." I said. "Let's go."_

"_What, are you coming with me?"_

"_Sure I am." I said. "I'd love to break into king George's castle."_

"_Why?" she asked. _

"_Let's just say he and I don't have the best relationship."_

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

"Want to join the celebration?" I say when I am standing in front of Zoe and Balefire.

"What is there to celebrate?" Zoe asks.

"You, of course." I say and she chuckles. "You are crazy if you think I am about to stand up and dance like an idiot."

I smirk and crouch beside her. "Maybe this will get you on your feet."

I start playing my pipe, the melodious music flowing from it. Balefire stands up immediately.

"Bae, what are you doing?" Zoe asks. I look at her with a raised eyebrow whilst Balefire joins the circle of lost boys and starts dancing with them round the bonfire. Zoe stands up, but I can tell that she isn't influenced by the music as Balefire is. Her gaze goes to me, then to Balefire, and finally backs to me.

"They are your puppets." My brow rises even higher. "You control them without that enchanted pipe."

"Don't you hear the music?"

"I'm not deaf." She says with a twisted lip, probably because she knows what I mean.

"So you hear the music, but it can't control you." I say, walking a step towards her. "Interesting."

She shakes her head slightly. "Not really, I'm just more powerful than your stupid pipe." She says with a smug tone.

"Then I guess I'll have to figure out another way to control you."

"You can try." She says and backs away. "You have all the time in the world." She turns and walks away from me, seating on the other edge of the camp.

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

_Snow White and I had our hoods up as we walked towards one of the entrances of the castle. Snow White was holding a basket with flowers I had made appear with my magic._

"_Flores for Prince James from the kingdom of Minas." Said Snow White to the man on the entrance as I placed my head down so that I wouldn't be recognized. The man checked his list, and then looked at Snow, who tilted her head slightly to the side. After a moment of hesitation, the man sighted. _

"_Top of the north-east spire." He said. "Take the stairwell or the guards will toss you over the walls." Snow and I nodded and walked into the castle. _

* * *

_Snow White and I took our cloaks off one we were on one of the corridors of the castle, and Snow left the basket on the floor behind them._

"_He is walking towards here." I said to her. "I can feel him."_

_She nodded. "You talk to him, I have to go now." I continued._

"_Where are you going?" She asked. _

"_To find George." I said with a smirk, and then transported myself to another corridor so that Snow and James could talk. _

* * *

"_Did you hear? We found the woman the king had been looking for." Said one of the knights._

"_The one who prince James is in love with?" the other knight asked, making the first knight nod._

"_She is the dungeon right now, but she won't be for long." They both chuckled, and then they turned to another corridor. _

_They were both walking through the corridor I was on, but they couldn't see me because I was hiding behind a wall. As they were talking, all I could say to myself was: "Shit." _

_I appeared in a corridor close to the dungeon and started walking through it when I turned to another corridor and saw Snow and two dwarfs walking on the opposite direction. _

"_Zoe!" Snow said excitedly. _

"_Who are those?" I asked, glancing at the dwarfs. _

"_Oh, this is Grumpy." She glanced at one of the dwarfs. "And this is Stealthy." She glanced at the other dwarf. "They are the ones who go me out of the dungeon."_

_I was about to open my mouth when Grumpy's voice stopped me. "Zoe Brook, you aren't going to kill us now, are you?"_

_I shrugged. "Depends." I said. "If you piss me off or not." Grumpy's lip twisted and my gaze went back to Snow White. _

"_It didn't go very well with your prince, I gather."_

"_I haven't talked to him yet." She says. "The knights caught me before I could."_

"_Okay, so then lets go back." I say, and then turn to start walking. _

"_No, wait, wait. The stairs." I said, pointing to the stairs we had almost passed, making all of us stop walking. _

"_No, we are sneaking out through the cord yard." Stealthy said. _

"_No, it's safer if we climb up through the wall." Snow agreed with me. "Trust me, running from royals is my life."_

"_Mine too." I said. _

"_The cord yard is clear now, it wont be for much longer." Stealthy said. _

_We all looked at Grumpy, who was the only one who hadn't given his opinion. _

"_Sorry, ladies. Stealthy got me this far." Grumpy said and then he and Stealthy turned and kept walking away. _

"_Grumpy, Grumpy wait!" Snow said, but the two dwarfs had already turned to another corridor. _

"_I need to go after them." She said, turning to me._

"_Are you nuts? There is nothing you can do." I said. _

"_You don't know that." Snow said. _

"_Okay, then I'll go with you."_

"_No, I need you to go and find James. Tell him that I'm here."_

"_Snow-."_

"_There's no time to argue, just go." She said and then turned and started walking away till I lost her sight when she turned to the same corridor the dwarfs had gone through. I sight and then turned to the stairs. _

* * *

Balefire's POV

As my eyes slowly open, I start to see Zoe. She is playing with a knife; throwing it slightly upwards and then catching it with the opposite end with which she threw it with. I seat down, which brings her attention to me, making her leave the knife of the rock across from me she is seating on.

"Hey." She says with a smile.

"What happened?" I ask, touching my forehead with my palm as a cure to the dizziness.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I…I was seating next to you. Pan started to play his pipe and…I think I was dancing."

She nods. "Yes, you were." She states. "Late in the knight, the lost boys went to their tree houses to sleep and I transported you here when no one was watching."

I nod. "So, Pan doesn't know I'm here?"

"I think he already noticed." She says with a crooked smile. "But that's okay, he doesn't know where your cave is."

"Our cave," I correct her with a smile.

Zoe hesitates before replying. "Yeah." She says. "So. Check this out." Zoe brings her right hand behind her back, making it emerge again with a coconut with holes all over it.

I lean to have a better view. "What _is _that?"

"It's a coconut." She says. "But the important thing is what's inside of it."

"And what is?"

Her lip twists. "Pan's shadow."

I stand up. "You can't be serious." I walk towards Zoe. "Can I?" I say, pointing at the coconut.

"Sure," she says, offering me the coconut. I take it and start admiring the details as I pass my hand over its surface.

"Does this mean…we can go home?"

The smile that had been forming across her lips disappears and her gaze goes to her hands, which are resting on the hole that is left when you seat with your legs crossed.

"Bae," she says.

It's the amount of years that she was my friend in the enchanted forest that make me realize what she means. "You are not coming with me."

She shakes her head. "I'm sorry."

I place my hand so that it is covering my mouth whilst I start pacing around the cave. I end up stopping and standing up in front of her again, but now her eyes have changed – now she is Zoe, the girl who acts like if she didn't care about anyone, the hard-core girl.

"Why?"

"I need to save my friends, okay?" she says with a harsh tone.

"But I can wait, I can wait until you get them back and we can all leave together."

She stands up. Now we are only inches apart. "But you don't have enough time. Getting them back will be hard; it will take months, maybe years. And if we wait too long, Pan will track his shadow down and you wont have another opportunity."

"I'm not leaving you."

She sights and paces in a circle till she stops. "I'm trying to be reasonable here, that's why I'm giving you a chance to argue with me, because if it were up to my normal self I would've put you to sleep and make the shadow carry you."

My breathing stops for a second at her poisonous words.

"You don't get to choose what I do." I finally say with a voice lower than I intended it to be.

"You've been here for decades." She says and places herself in front of me. "It's time to get out of this bloody place and make your own life. So don't quit to everything because of me, I will find a way to get out of here later."

I let Zoe's words sink in for a moment before I eventually nod.

"But you have to do something for me, though." I say.

"What is it?"

"Promise me that you wont give up on finding your friends. I know how important they are to you."

"I promise."

* * *

_Zoe's POV_

_To find James's room took me more than I expected to - I was lost, transporting myself to every corridor I could think of. Eventually I found the hallway that led me to the room, only to find King George talking to Snow White. _

"_George." I said, making him turn her head over his shoulder to look at me. _

"_Zoe." He nodded as I walked towards him, stopping when I was standing next to Snow White. "It has been a while sense I last saw you."_

"_When you tried to capture me to take me to the Queen because of the reward, how could I forget?" I said with a fake smile._

"_My kingdom was, and still is, broken. I needed the money."_

"_Indeed you did." I said, rolling my eyes._

"_Now, can I know what are you doing in my castle?"_

"_Oh, I came with her." I said, glancing at Snow White._

"_Yes, I know who you are." George said to Snow. "You are the one."_

"_I don't know what-." Snow tried._

"_Enough, I know everything." Prince Gorge cut her of, showing her the letter James had written to her. _

"_You poisoned his heart, now his marriage. And with that, the entire kingdom, all because of your feelings."_

_Snow shook her head. "I wish feelings could be held but they cant."_

"_Of course they can. Love is a disease, and like all diseases it can be vanquished in one of two ways: cure or death. Do you know where your beloved is right now? He is right down that hallway packing for your new life." All of our heads turned to the door at the end of the hallway George was pointing at. _

"_He'll never know I'm here." Snow stated. _

"_Oh, yes he will." King George said. "Cause you are going to walk down that hallway, Snow White. You are going to snick in and tell him you received his letter. You are going to tell him why you are here: because you don't love him. You will break his heart, and that will cure him."_

"_Or?" I asked. _

"_Or you'll kill me." Snow White stated._

"_Oh, no. I'll kill him. Killing you will just make him love you more, and the marriage and the kingdom will ultimately crumble. But if he were to die in an assassin's hand, he would die a martyr. Midas would forgive, even lord, his death. And the merger will be complete."_

"_You will do that to your own son."_

"_He is not my son."_

"_If you want to kill him you will have to go through me first." I said to George._

"_No, Zoe. I can't let you kill a king for me." Said Snow White. _

"_You can't be serious, we are talking about the man you love." I replied._

"_That's why I can't risk loosing him." She said. _

_I sighted. "You know what? I don't care; it's your life. I'm out of here."_

"_Zoe-." I heard Snow say, but I had already transported myself outside of the castle._

* * *

Peter Pan's POV

Late in the afternoon, I am seating next to Felix on a stump. I have been all day wondering how Zoe is doing with Balefire. Suddenly a wave goes throw me; the familiar sensation that I feel when someone leaves Neverland.

"Balefire, he is gone." I say to Felix with an indifferent voice, omitting the relief I feel completely. Felix nods but I barely notice, and a smirk crosses my lips when I think of the fact that now Zoe is mine, forever.


End file.
